r/SquaredCircle's 100 Greatest Matches Ever Poll

Our friends from Reddit organised a poll over the last couple of weeks. Can't say I'm a fan of the results, but at least there's some value in seeing how casual smart fans think. It's very Meltzerian, pro-recency (4 of the top 5 are from 2017-18!) and I was most struck by how there's not a single Lucha, Joshi, British or Shoot-Style match anywhere. I thought at least a Manami Toyota match would make it.

No Flair vs. Steamboat 2/3 falls either, I thought that match had been canonised but apparently not.

Oh and Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens ranking higher than any of the AJPW bouts they're cosplaying is funny.

Also, interesting that the NXT War Games appears on the list, but not any of the original ones.

Is the population on Reddit younger? That might explain some of the recency bias?

Absolutely. I come here for talking with peole who have similar knowledge to me, I go to reddit to see what the modern version of 16 year old Sean is thinking, they can shape how the industry develops.

The list is going to be interesting as it is what the "casual/hardcore" audience likes in wrestling. Sure, it is "Meltzerian" but most fans of this group have been leaning "Meltzerian" for the past decade when footage wasn't a big issue and finding a starting point of great wrestling from outside WWE was as easy as looking at Dave's ***** matches. It isn't brainwashing, it is a product of wrestling being easier to approach than ever.

Yeah the Tully/Magnum one being the highest 80s one is interesting to me. I don't know how many votes were cast, it might have been like two people that got it up there, but you would have expected Flair/Steamboat or Steamboat/Savage.

The list is going to be interesting as it is what the "casual/hardcore" audience likes in wrestling. Sure, it is "Meltzerian" but most fans of this group have been leaning "Meltzerian" for the past decade when footage wasn't a big issue and finding a starting point of great wrestling from outside WWE was as easy as looking at Dave's ***** matches. It isn't brainwashing, it is a product of wrestling being easier to approach than ever.